Trade may affect Faragher

Staff

The road to the NHL just became even more difficult for Fort Frances native Ryan Faragher.
Trying to find a spark in a season of underachievement, the Anaheim Ducks yesterday acquired Montreal Canadiens’ back-up goalie Dustin Tokarski in exchange for left-winger Max Friberg.
Tokarski’s arrival provides another obstacle to getting to the big league for the 25-year-old Faragher, who was signed last July to a contract with the Ducks’ AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls.
Anaheim currently has John Gibson and Fredrik Andersen in the lineup while Tokarski joins a crowded crease in San Diego that also includes former NHL’ers Anton Khudobin and Matt Hackett.
Gibson suffered a lower-body injury in the Ducks’ 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
But the trade for Tokarski doesn’t seem to be connected to the injury as Gibson practiced with the team yesterday.
Faragher originally was signed as an undrafted free agent to a one-year entry-level contract by Anaheim in April, 2014.
He’s seen the majority of his playing time this season with the Ducks’ ECHL team, the Utah Grizzlies, as the squad’s No. 1 goalie.
He has a 13-4-1 record, along with a 2.26 GAA and .922 save percentage.
Faragher has been called up to San Diego twice this season, where he went 1-3 with a 3.37 GAA and .895 save percentage.
He was sent back to Utah on Dec. 17.
The netminder won his first eight starts with Utah this season, but has gone just 4-3 since returning to the Grizzlies last month.
Faragher made 25 saves in his latest appearance Wednesday but took the loss as the Grizzlies fell 3-2 to the Rapid City Rush.